Shame on McNeil’s Liberals says Paon

October 31, 2018 at 1:09 pm

The closure of the Strait-Richmond Emergency Room just one day after the McNeil Liberals refused to examine doctor recruitment is solid proof that healthcare is not a priority for this government, says Cape Breton-Richmond MLA Alana Paon.

Yesterday, Paon put the topic of “Recruiting Strategies within the NSHA” forward at the legislature’s Human Resources Committee. The Liberal Caucus members on the committee used their majority to shut down the request and defer the topic to the Health Committee.

The committee currently has no members and no set dates to meet. There is no guarantee the Health Committee will agree to the topic when it does meet.

“The HR Committee is designed specifically to hear about topics like doctor recruitment strategies,” says Paon. “The reality is, the Liberal government has failed to make good strides in doctor recruitment and they are afraid to answer to Nova Scotians. So instead, the Liberals have again used their majority to keep themselves free and clear from accountability.”

Paon says these shameful actions are just another stall tactic to avoid answering for their failure to recruit doctors. Meanwhile, the doctor shortage continues to have life-threatening impacts on thousands of Nova Scotians.

For Angel Scott, a CCA in Cape Breton-Richmond, these ER closures come with great emotional and physical turmoil.

“When you are in physical agony, distance means everything,” says Scott, who has suffered from Crohns disease for 27 years. “It is heart-breaking to think that our government doesn’t care about people like me.”

Paon says that the closures at Strait-Richmond are a quad-county issue, as many counties rely on the hospital’s services.

“People from Richmond, Canso, Guysborough and Antigonish rely on the services at Strait Richmond,” says Paon. “People are suffering, and the Liberal government simply shrugs it off when they should be answering for it.”

Paon says this government is hiding information from Nova Scotians because they have failed to recruit doctors and refuse to answer for it.

“People are suffering, and McNeil’s Liberals don’t seem to care,” says Paon. “This government has forgotten that they need to answer to the people of Nova Scotia.”